


Too Many Kids!

by Mercury



Category: Avengers, Iron Man - Fandom, Marvel
Genre: ADHD/ADD Tony, Angry Thor, Child Abuse, Clint Barton & Natasha Romanov Friendship, Deaf Character, Deaf Clint Barton, Disabilities, Dyslexic Tony, Foster System, Kid Clint Barton, Kid Natasha, Kid Rhodey, Kid Thor, Kid Tony, M/M, PTSD, Tony Stark Needs a Hug, Undiagnosed Autism, Undiagnosed Autistic Bruce, autistic thor, car crash
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-07-15
Updated: 2019-07-15
Packaged: 2020-06-28 12:58:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,231
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19812772
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mercury/pseuds/Mercury
Summary: Loki and Bucky never expected their date night to end - abruptly - with a 13-year old showing up with an 11-year-old on their doorstep.{Or, Loki and Bucky adopted Clint, Thor, Bruce, and Natasha before Tony and Rhodey’s case worker brought them to their house. Turns out everyone needed them more than they thought.}(Irregular updating and some mediocre writing done at night. This will mostly be done in Tony’s perspective BUT the others will have their own chapters eventually.)





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Aaand welcome to Too Many Kids, the project that contains mediocre writing written at night and on mobile (mostly). First chapter is cut in half. James’ perspective is first, then Tony. As said before, the updates will be irregular, but I’ll aim for one or two chapters each week. Three if I’m not depressed off my ass ;)

“And don’t come back, you fucking retards!” Dave, Rhodey and Tony’s newest foster dad, spat as he threw their few belongings onto the sidewalk, followed by them. Tony went to clean up the mess as Rhodey shouted and stomped his foot, gripping his curly brown hair that could honestly use a haircut.

”I’ll call Amy, Tones. Let’s hope we won’t end up in another group home,” he finally said with frustration evident in his squeaky voice. His brother simply nodded, folding the two sweatshirts they owned and stacking the books on top of them.

James dialed the only number he knew by heart; Amy, their (his) social worker, picked up. “James?” She asked, getting a quiet ‘yeah’ in response. The woman proceeded to say in a knowing tone, “I’ll be there soon.” 

Too many times had they been kicked out of their placements. It was routine for them by now, as much as he hated to say it.

While Tony wasn’t his biological brother, the kid had been thrown in a group home for boys when he was six and Rhodey had grown close to the boy. He begged and pleaded with Amy to allow Tony to stay with him, and she couldn’t say no to his pleading eyes.

That led them here, on the baking California sidewalk. Soon a white SUV pulled up and Tony climbed in, sliding into the seat farthest from the sidewalk. Rhodey was quick to follow and met an apologetic Amy’s eyes in the mirror.

”I’m sorry, guys. He seemed like a good guy when I met him before,” she said. “They all do,” Tony whispered, staring out the window. Amy clapped and smiled at them after a moment. “I’ve got a great temp for you guys. You’ll love them!” She started the ignition and turned, driving down the suburban roads of Ocean Beach, California.

—Tony’s POV—

Tony knew the insult had been directed for him. He knew it was his fault that Rhodey and himself were out of a home - again. He couldn’t read the stupid bins and put Cheerios where Fruit Loops were and the Fruit Loops where Apple Jacks were and - it went on. So when Amy said she had a great temp, he felt a spark of hope within him. The hope, however, was quickly extinguished when he remembered she said the same thing about the guy who just kicked them out.

”’m sorry, Rhodes.” Tony said, biting his lip. James looked at him before responding, “It wasn’t your fault that Dave’s a dick.” That comment made a small smile appear on Tony’s lips, despite his attempt to hide it.

The car ride was silent until they pulled up in front of a baby blue, two-story house. In front, red flowers in pots were arranged neatly along the walkway. “Come on, Tony!” Any called cheerfully. Tony looked over and saw Rhodes and Amy had already stepped out of the car. After a deep breath, the 11-year-old opened the car door and stepped out, following behind Amy and James.

The adult pressed the doorbell and a man opened the door. “Oh, hey! You must be Amy!” He said. His brown eyes drifted over to Tony and James. He waved them all in with a smile, tucking his long-ish brown hair behind his ear. “You must be James and Anthony,” he said once they were all inside. “Welcome-“ his greeting was cut off by the youngest.

”Tony,” He said. “My name is Tony.” Amy glared at him while the man just grinned wider. “Alright, Tony. I’m James, but the others just call me Bucky. This,” He said, gesturing in the direction of another man, “is Loki. Babe, can you go get the kids?” The other man, Loki, nodded and left to collect the other children. Tony eyes them carefully, shifting closer to Rhodey who gently pushed the younger boy behind him. 

Soon four other kids, all who looked extremely uninterested, were stood in front of the two boys. “Well, I’ll leave you boys here then,” Amy said, opening the door and exiting with a small wave. “Tony, James, this is Clint, Natasha, Thor, and Bruce!”

Bruce was the only one who gave them a nervous smile. Thor glared at them, Natasha seemed to be analyzing them, and Clint- “Clint, come on back here!” The blonde boy returned, crossing his arms and rolling his eyes. “Clint is fourteen, Nat is twelve, Thor is sixteen, and Bruce is twelve. Can you tell us how old you guys are?” Tony spoke up, feeling the waves of anxiety rolling off of his sibling.

”I’m eleven, Rhodes is thirteen. Where can we sleep?”

—

Tony stared at the ceiling of his room, hearing Clint’s faint snoring on the other side of his room. He bit back a whimper as he remembered another part of his childhood before the foster system. He managed to forget most of it, but parts of it - mainly at night - came back to him. A scream coming from the room across the hall shook him from his thoughts, though, and he was sprinting to get to Rhodey.

”Tony!” His brother cried, tears staining his face. Even thought he was thirteen, his emotional maturity was definitely that of a six-year-old - not that Tony complained. The latter pulled James into a hug as a light flicked on and Loki and Bucky appeared in the hall, followed by Natasha, Clint, and Thor, who still looked pissed. “Are you boys okay?” A nod from Tony. Bruce was just now waking up from his side of the room, black hair messy from sleep. 

“What’s going on?” The boy slurred. He turned and saw Rhodey. “Oh. Nightmare.” Bruce rolled over and stood up, walking downstairs. “Well, it’s already five, you guys can sleep for an hour and a half or come down and hang out. Your choice,” Bucky said, turning. Tony heard his footsteps head down the stairs. Rhodey stood and followed, then Clint and Natasha. Thor stayed behind.

As Tony walked by, Thor spit on his cheek. Tony turned to look at the older boy. “Did you just spit on me?” Thor did it again before walking downstairs. Tony sighed and washed off the saliva before following everyone else down. Loki was in the kitchen making breakfast with Bucky, who was more talking than working. Bruce was fiddling with some electronics and Natasha was reading. Clint was just sitting on the couch, staring at his nails and Thor shot daggers at him. Out of all of them Bruce seemed the most approachable.

”Hey, what’re you working on?”

The boy looked up. “Oh, uh, just a circuit board. Why?” Tony smiler a little. “Can I help? I really like electronics.” Bruce returned the expression and Tony sat down, talking and basically just having fun with Bruce. Rhodey watched from across the table with a grin. 

“Breakfast time” Loki sang. Tony helped Bruce put the circuit board and tools away before sitting next to him and eyeing the plate of eggs and bacon in front of him. “Something wrong, darling?” Loki asked. Tony shook his head and started eating slowly. His fingers tapped against the table and Thor slammed his hand down, making Tony and Brice both jump. 

“Thor, remember, you don’t disrupt the table when people are eating. That means no yelling or hitting or loud noises, right?” The boy frowned and replied, “He was being too loud.” Tony’s chair was being scraped across the floor and he was soon running up the stairs. Bucky sighed. “I’ll get him.” The man walked up the stairs and entered Clint’s room.

”Tony?” He asked, eyes landing on the boy pushing clothes in a plastic bag. “It’s okay, I’ll call my case worker. You can just go and eat. Just don’t make James go, he likes it here I think.”

Bucky wrapped his arms (something metal felt cold against Tony’s skin, which he later realized with a prosthetic arm) around Tony and pulled the boy back. “You aren’t going anywhere, kid. Thor has autism, so he gets a lil’ angry sometimes, ‘specially since he’s tired ‘n his routine was changed. Come on back down and finish your breakfast and we can talk afterwards ‘bout it, alright?” Tony nodded and followed the man back downstairs.

“Hi Tony!” Bruce said, smiling. After returning the greeting he sat down and finished eating before realizing he had no spare clothes. Loki seemed to notice and ushered the boy into a laundry room where he grabbed a box and set it on the ground. “Just use whatever is in your size. It’s just a bunch of clothes we grabbed in all different sizes.” In the end, Tony was wearing a light red short sleeved shirt and beige jeans with red sneakers. “Aye, kid, c’mere,” Bucky called from what Tony assumed was the office.

When he entered, a large monitor sat on a wooden desk with a black office chair towards the back of the room. There were two bookshelves, both symmetrical, on either side, and Bucky was leaning in the desk with a red Jansport backpack and matching water bottle in hand. “Pencils ‘n sh- stuff are in it already. Brucie is in seventh grade, and right now you’ll be in sixth, but Amy said you’re a pretty smart cookie. If that’s true, I’m sure you’ll be skippin’ a few grades here ‘n there.”

Tony blinked in surprise. No one had ever given him anything; most of the time he was sent to school with nothing but a pencil he ‘borrowed’ or a plastic bag he found on the walk. Slowly he grabbed the backpack and sling it over his shoulders. “You don’t really have time to pack a lunch, so just ask Bruce to buy ya a lunch. Have fun.” Tony took that as his cue to leave, so he waited by the door with Bruce. They debated the existence of floating cars as they walked to school, deciding to leave early when Clint decided to get dressed last and Rhodey wasn’t enrolled yet. Natasha followed behind them and Thor had left earlier.

”Overall, I think it’s very possible. I’ve drawn up a few designs, but lost most of them. Still have a few of you want to look at them.” Tony concluded, smiling when his friend nodded enthusiastically. “Your room is 245, so down this hall. I’ll see you in the cafeteria!” Bruce called, walking towards his classroom. Tony nodded and counted the rooms until he arrived at the correct room. He pushed down the door handle and opened the door.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tony learns that life isn’t fair and Bruce realizes that kids are cruel.

—Bruce—

Most of the time, Bruce is left alone. He does everyone’s homework and no one bothers him. Today, it seems, was different. As soon as he stepped inside a foot flew out to trip him. He face planted and blinked for a moment, his mind trying to think of any reason as to why that had happened.

”Maybe next time you’ll get my handwriting right, freak.”

Oh.

Donathan Mateo, the official bully of seventh grade. Donny was the only one who ever bothered Bruce. Bruce never understood why, though, and any time he asked all he got was a bruised shoulder. So he stopped asking.

After a moment, Bruce stood up and kept walking, brushing the light grey jacket he had hastily grabbed that morning off. He sat down in his seat and looked around. There were a few people there, but it wasn’t crowded yet. That was good. Very good.

Bruce’s mind started to tell him about all the germs that were on the floor. He could hear the chatter of students and it was loud. Too loud. The lights seemed to burn his eyes and he wanted to escape. Needed to. Instead, he put his head down, and closed his eyes. That would have to do.

—Tony—

The moment he stepped into the classroom, Tony felt all heads turned his way. The teacher was too busy grading papers to acknowledge him, and Tony was somewhat glad for that. Teachers always made him introduce himself, and it was a pain because he didn’t know much. The one time he had told people he was in foster care, it hadn’t gone over to well.

A few people snickered and Tony realized he had just been standing there. But he could feel _his hands on him, trailing up his spine and leaving marks on his neck-_ “Anthony?” The teacher repeated. “Oh- Uh, yes?” 

“Could you please introduce yourself?”

Tony inhaled sharply and nodded He stood at the front of the room and put on his best poker face, looking extremely uninterested at the event. “I’m Tony. I’m 11. My price for homework is a dollar per page. Two for more detailed responses.” More snickers. “Or fifty cents, I don’t really fucking care,” he mumbled, walking back to his seat. The teacher nodded. “Exciting. Good job, Anthony. Now, everyone pass back this worksheet...”

—Bruce—

Lunch.

He just needed to make it to lunch. Then he could call Loki or Bucky or Thor and get picked up and-

Realistically, that wouldn’t happen. Bucky would go and give him a pep talk. Loki would do it over the phone and Thor would just take him to his class which honestly was worse than his own. Natasha was the closest thing to a friend he had, but she didn’t talk outside of home and Bruce only knew basic signs like yes or no. Tony... Not an option. He didn’t want to scare the boy, though secretly he wanted Loki and Bucky to adopt him. It would be a dream come true to have another genius around. 

“Bruce Banner?” 

“Oh, uh, here!”

Bruce pushes his glasses further in his nose and fidgeted with the buttons on his green flannel tucked under his jacket. As the teacher started talking, Bruce zoned out, hearing snippets of words like ‘Shakespeare’ and ‘Mockingbird’. 

Only three hours. He could do it.

—Tony—

The worksheet was easy. Way too easy. The teacher said to do just do what he can since he hadn’t had the lesson, but if the lessons were like the worksheet, he would end up skipping. Not like he hasn’t done it before.

All the kids snuck glances at him, and he didn’t mind. He just wished the goddamn memories would go away because he could feel _his hands on him, forcing his jeans and boxers down and telling him to shut up-_

“Oh my god, he can’t even sit in a chair!” It took Tony a minute to realize he was on the tile floor, gasping for breath. He sat up and saw his chair on the ground. He must’ve fallen out of it, but he didn’t care.

Scrambling up to the front of the room, he asks the teacher, “Can I be excused?” The teacher, Mr. Coulson if he remembered correctly, nodded and gave him a form to sign. Tony watched the words swirl on his page and mumbled s ‘nevermind’ before walking swiftly to his seat.

There were letters inscribed into the fake wood of his desk and he frowned, glancing at the reading worksheet that had been put on his desk at some point. Hadn’t his dyslexic diagnosis been in his file? Bucky and Loki probably hadn’t read it. It didn’t matter. He would be gone soon anyways. At least he got a backpack. 

Looking back down at the worksheet, he scribbled his name messily on the line he saw. At least it was black and white. Easier to try and read. Still, he couldn’t read the passage. The letters were like synchronized swimmers, dancing and swirling in front of him. A snap came from his pencil and he realized he broke it. He quickly stood up and started walking to his backpack hung up on the wall. 

“Anthony?”

”Yes sir?”

”You need permission to get up.”

”Sorry sir.”

The teacher gave him an apologetic smile and Tony quickly grabbed a few extra pencils before returning to his seat.

”Alright class, trade papers with your shoulder buddy.” Another paper appeared in front of him. Hesitantly, he passed his paper to a girl beside him. 

“We’ll go in a circle and read the passage together. Natalie, you start.” A girl with brown hair started to read out loud. She was two seats away from him, and soon, it was his turn. 

“T-The...” He said. His hands were curled into fists. “The tiger, Anthony,” Coulson helped. “The tiger...” Tony stared at his paper. After a moment he stood and walked out of the room, ignoring his teacher’s yelling. As soon as the door closed he started running, hardly aware as a hand wrapped around his arm.

”Anthony! You do not run out of the classroom when class is in session! Go to the principal’s office!”

Now he’s done it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Two chapters in, technically two days. More like me being bored and deciding to write again. Sorry for the short one, I’ll write a longer chapter tomorrow. Enjoy!


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tony gets in trouble, and Bucky and Loki learn a lot more about him. Bruce tried.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I had a bunch of mental notes last night but I forgot them (of course) so now Im just kinda winging it. I also feel like I’ve made Bucky and Loki our to be kind of emotionless, so I’m gonna try and fix that here. Also, there’s a mention of suicide in this chapter. I’ll put ‘(trigger)’ around it so you can skip over it if you want.

—Bruce—

Bruce tried.

He really tried to make it to lunch; but by the end of second period, he was done. So when he saw Bucky walking in to the front office, Bruce snuck after him and went over what he would say in his head. His thoughts were interrupted by a certain 11-year-old though.

”Bruce?”

The older boy turned and faced Tony. “Tony? Why are you waiting for the principal?” Bruce replied, a confused expression on his face.

”Ehm, I kind of ran out of my classroom.”

Bruce stared at him for a moment before smiling and shaking his head. From what he knew about his foster brother, he was one to do that. 

“Tony Stark?” 

The red-headed principal called from her office. Tony stood up and walked in with Bucky, who had a guilty look in his eye. As Bruce’s father turned, he gave Bruce a confused look that said _we’ll talk later._

Bruce sat down in Tony’s seat and prepared to wait.

—Bucky—

Bucky felt really guilty for not reading Tony’s file. Realistically, he would’ve gotten around to it, but Thor was having a pretty bad morning and Loki and Bucky had to take care of Rhodey and explain what was going on. By then, Bucky was exhausted, and Loki offered to read the file and call him if there was something important. It didn’t take long to find something.

Just as Bucky laid down, Loki called from the office. “Bucky?” With a groan, the man sat up and walked down to the office. He put one hand on the back of the office chair and the other on the desk, brown eyes scanning the screen. “Oh my god.” He said.

“We sent a kid with dyslexia and ADHD to a school where we know Thor, Clint, and Natasha have been bullied for being different. He must be miserable!” Just as Loki was about to respond, the home phone rang. Bucky picked up. “Hello?” Listening for a few moments, he squeezed the bridge of his nose. “I’ll be there soon. Thank you.” Bucky looked at his husband with a sigh. “Tony got into some trouble.”

Loki winced and nodded. “Do what you have to do. I’ll be fine with James for a bit.” The two men exchanged a quick kiss before Bucky pulled on his leather jacket and took off in their red pick-up truck. 

After Bucky signed in and Pepper Potts, the principal, called Tony’s name, he turned to see Bruce talking to Tony. With a confused look pointed at Bruce, he placed a gentle hand on Tony’s back and smiled warmly at the boy, whispering, “I read your file.” Tony looked up at him and he nodded.

”Uh, Tony Stark?” Pepper called again. They entered the room and sat down in two fabric chairs facing the fake wooden desk covered in knick-knacks and a computer set-up. “Tony,” the woman began. “Do you know why you’re in here?”

Tony mumbled something and Bucky leaned closer to whisper, “A bit louder please.” Tony repeated himself.

“I ran out of my classroom without permission.” 

“Why?” Pepper inquired, leaning forward and writing notes down in a notebook Bucky hadn’t noticed before.

”I couldn’t read the passage to the class.” Tony said quietly, barely loud enough to hear him. The boy looked at his feet and seemed to wiggle around in his seat.

”Is there a reason why you couldn’t read the passage?”

Tony looked like he was about to cry, so Bucky stepped in. “Tony was diagnosed with Dyslexia and ADHD. We didn’t read his file until about 30 minutes ago, so we didn’t know to tell the school.”

The woman nodded and asked Tony, “Is this true?”

The boy in return nodded and wiped his cheek, head lowered. “Okay. We’ll need to meet again to discuss a plan for the future, but for now you can check him out for the day or send him back.” Pepper stood and shook Bucky’s hand before leading them out. “Tones, can you go get your bag for me while I check you out?” 

Tony nodded and hurried to his class. Bucky, meanwhile, turned to Bruce. 

“What are you doing in here?” 

Bruce sputtered before rushing out in one breath, “Please sign me out too, I can’t take it here right now! Please, please, please! I’ll do anything!”

Bucky, sensing his son’s distress, nodded and scribbled both Tony and Bruce’s names in the check out sheet provided by the receptionist. “Brucie, go wait in the car, okay?” The latter nodded and rushed out to the black truck. 

“This isn’t what I was expecting,” Bucky mumbled.

—Tony—

Tony was glad he could get out of school. He hadn’t thought about getting his bag, though, and was now standing outside his classroom door, biting his lip. He could taste blood, but he didn’t stop.

For the second time that day, Tony opened the door and walked in, rushing past the seats and grabbing his backpack from his hook.

In his rush, he failed to notice he had left it open, and its contents fell onto the floor. Some of his peers snickered or chuckled at his mistake as he shoved everything back inside and made sure to zip it up. “Have fun, retard!” A boy yelled at him. The teacher turned to chastise him, but Tony beat him to it. “At least my mother liked me, you elephant!” 

Apparently his insult wasn’t that good, because the rest of the class laughed. The one boy glared at him, but he didn’t see. Tony was too busy hiding the tears streaming down his face. If his classmates caught on to his use of ‘liked’, he would be screwed. Very screwed.

Tony ran the rest of the way and managed to stop crying, only sniffling. When Bucky asked what was wrong, he just shook his head and climbed into the back seat with Bruce.

“Tones,” Bucky asked. “Since I screwed up, you get to choose a store to go and get something from and what we eat for dinner. Does that sound good?” Tony nodded, smiling at the nickname. He wiped his eyes and asked, “Can we go to BestBuy? And, I’d like pizza for dinner, Bucky.” 

—Natasha— (because I’ve barely written about her)

Natasha likes Tony. Sure, the kid was really skittish, but he made Brice happy, and Natasha was protective of Bruce. Especially since he thought doing other people’s homework was making friends.

She saw Bruce slip away after second period, and realized he was going after Bucky. Natasha didn’t think about it too much though, because Bruce would either go home or be sent back to class. It didn’t affect her much either way.

She figured it was the first a answer because Bruce wasn’t there for any of third period chemistry. Natasha saw it as a win since she got to work alone. 

When she entered fourth period history, she was surprised to see a substitute. Natasha hoped the sub knew she wouldn’t speak; though deep inside she knew he wouldn't. She took a seat in the back of the class and listened as the sun took attendance.

”Roman?”

”Here!”

”Sophie H?”

”Present.”

”Matthew H?” 

“At your service!”

”Natasha?”

The room was silent.

”Uh, Natasha... Romanov?”

Slowly, she raised her hand. The sub didn’t see since he was looking down at his roster.

”Absent, then.”

Natasha stood up and walked up to the sub, hand raised.

”Yes?” He asked.

She tapped her name, then pointed to herself. “You're Natasha? Well, why didn’t you say so?”

—Tony—

Tony was having fun looking at all the different electronics at Best Buy. He let Bruce help him pick something out, and together they decided to get an old flip phone to take apart and use for parts. Bucky had laughed when the two boys explained it but bought it for them anyways.

The car ride home was filled with conversation and debates about random stuff, some of which Bucky even joined in on. When the car pulled into the drive, Tony and Bruce rushes up to the door and waited impatiently for Bucky (“Hurry up! How are you so slow?!”) to unlock the door so they could get Bruce’s tool kit. 

As soon as the door opened, they ran upstairs and Tony almost ran into Rhodes, instead stopping and saying a quick ‘hi James!’ before rushing off again and stopping in the ‘workshop’, as Bruce called it. The rest of the day was filled with their laughter and playful banter.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I wrote 3,000+ words and accidentally reset the page without saving it. FML.


End file.
